Rangers v Aberdeen: Will old foes drum up another classic League Cup final?
- Published
Rangers v Aberdeen: A special League Cup rivalry
Viaplay Cup final: Rangers v Aberdeen | |
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Venue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Sunday, 17 December Time: 15:00 GMT | |
Coverage: Commentary on BBC Scotland & BBC Sounds and follow live on the BBC Sport website & app |
"It did seem to go on forever," said Ally McCoist a few minutes after he and his Rangers team-mates lifted the League Cup in October 1987. "It's a bit unfortunate there's got to be a loser."
His words rang true for anyone who not only played in what was a classic final with Aberdeen but anyone who was witness to the 3-3 draw ultimately settled by a penalty shootout.
It was the first time the League Cup had been decided in that manner and it came after a tremendous match that resembled a footballing seesaw.
As the two clubs prepare to do battle once again for the trophy at Hampden on Sunday - and for a seventh time in the tournament's showpiece - let's look back at that and other previous cup final meetings.
While six of the players who featured for Aberdeen in 1987 had played a part in their Cup Winners' Cup final victory less than five years before, the club's glory days had been and gone, as had their titan of a manager, Alex Ferguson.
Rangers were transitioning from also-rans to nine-in-a-row champions under Graeme Souness. David Murray's takeover would follow not long after.
Aberdeen led the final early, with former Rangers midfielder Jim Bett scoring from the penalty spot, after goalkeeper Nicky Walker brought down Willie Falconer, before Davie Cooper slammed home one of the most memorable free-kicks in the history of the competition. Dons goalkeeper Jim Leighton was utterly helpless to stop it.
Rangers would lead at the break through Ian Durrant only for Aberdeen's Gothenburg hero, John Hewitt, and then Falconer to turn the game on its head again in the space of eight incredible minutes.
There was 80 on the clock and the Dons fans celebrated what looked to be a first trophy of the post-Ferguson era. However, Ian Porterfield's men were denied with three minutes to play by Robert Fleck.
One of Porterfield's star signings, Peter Nicholas, was the only player to miss in the shootout, his effort clipping Walker's crossbar before Durrant won it with the last kick.
"It was a tremendous advert for Scottish football today," McCoist added after collecting the third of nine winners' medals in a competition in which he enjoyed lasting success.
Period of Rangers dominance
Robert Fleck's late equaliser took the 1987 League Cup final into a penalty shoot-out
The 1987-88 version was the first in a series of three dramatic finals in a row between Rangers and Aberdeen in the League Cup.
Indeed, the inaugural final was contested by these two, Bill Struth's Rangers hammering the Dons 4-0 in front of almost 90,000 at the national stadium in 1947.
It would be another 32 years before they crossed swords at this stage again. And while he went on to enjoy unrivalled success at Pittodrie, Ferguson was on the losing side in his first final as a manager when, in 1979, Alex MacDonald and Colin Jackson handed Rangers' greatest-ever player, John Greig, his first trophy as Ibrox boss, coming from behind to do so.
Doug Rougvie proclaimed his innocence after the big defender was sent off for an off-the-ball incident with Derek Johnstone. Ferguson claimed afterwards: "Rougvie swears on his mother's life he didn't touch Johnstone." Johnstone's take is quite the opposite.
This fixture is even edgier now than it was back then, which makes this season's meeting all the more appetising.
Porterfield's short time as Ferguson's replacement didn't recover from that penalty defeat in '87 and, by the time the 1988 final came around, it was Alex Smith and Jocky Scott's turn to pit their wits against Souness and Walter Smith.
It was another barnstormer. Rangers came out on top 3-2, with McCoist turning home the winner with just four minutes left.
He had got the scoring under way himself after another early penalty concession by a goalkeeper. This time, Leighton's replacement, Theo Snelders, gifted their opponents the chance by hauling Kevin Drinkell to the ground.
Davie Dodds twice brought the Dons back on terms, but Rangers made it four wins out of four against them in League Cup finals with McCoist's late salvo.
Mason turns tables for Dons
Charlie Nicholas was one of the Aberdeen players celebrating Paul Mason's winner in 1989
Aberdeen had won the League Cup three times before the finals of '87 and '88, but they had yet to taste victory over Rangers at this stage and, when they met again in 1989, they finally prevailed.
There were fewer goals, but there was no less drama as Smith and Scott sent out a Dons side featuring an 18-year-old Eoin Jess, a player who was rejected by Rangers just two years before.
Jess looked at home in the 2-1 win, but it was midfielder Paul Mason who shone the brightest, the Liverpudlian scoring both goals either side of a controversial Mark Walters penalty to seal the silverware.
It remains Aberdeen's only League Cup final victory over the Ibrox side and it was also the legendary Willie Miller's final winner's medal of his glittering Pittodrie career. They would go on to win the Scottish Cup that campaign too.
Two trophies in one season for a club that had been used to winning. It is just two trophies in the 33 and a half years that have ensued.
Miller was in the dugout for the most recent League Cup final with Rangers in 1992 and was left to curse the introduction of the back-pass rule as Snelders failed to deal with a ball from defender David Winnie. Stuart McCall was on hand to capitalise on the error.
While Duncan Shearer's equaliser took the game to extra time, Gary Smith headed a cross from former Dons full-back David Robertson into his own net to seal the first part of a treble for Smith's, by then, dominant Rangers. They would consign Aberdeen to the role of bridesmaids in all three competitions in '92-93.
It was the beginning of a period in the doldrums for the Pittodrie club, with just one trophy in almost 20 years as Rangers took control for a decade.
The current Ibrox side, unbeaten under Phillipe Clement, are odds-on to win the 2023 version, but it is set to be as captivating as the battles that have gone before.